Mexico appears to have backpedaled on its commitment to require that industries disclose the types and amounts of pollution they produce. A bill drafted by Mexico’s environment ministry (Semarnat) to create a Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR) was sent to Congress last month as part of a reform package. (See “Toxic-reporting legislation on way in Mexico”—EcoAméricas, Aug. ’01.) But the proposal that reached Congress falls short of the promise Environment Secretary Víctor Lichtinger made in June at a meeting of the tri-national Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC). Lichtinger told the CEC he would push through legislation to create a public register in which industries must periodically report how much pollution they emit site by site, substance by substance. This would have... [Log in to read more]